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Project Ideas: Nature Adventure

Here is a list of Project Ideas and Resources to help you create and complete your projects.
Scroll over a Project Title for more information.

Exploration and Play

Project Ideas

Creative Arts: Encourage outdoor creative exploration, improvisation and expression, i.e. maze/shelter/sculpture-building, rock/sand-painting, imaginary games and play, nature journaling/sketching, outdoor theater, dance, music
Unplug!: Promote a day, a week, or� of disconnect-time. No TV, computer games, etc.
Restoration project: Provide opportunities for youth and students to enhance, restrore and create habitat through clean-ups, planting native plant scapes, adopting a watershed, etc.
Nature-Based After-School Programs: Provide environmental activities for a local after-school program or day camp. For example, these could be organized activities, student-led or supervised unstructured play.
Nature Playgrounds: Provide and encourage nature exploration with nature natural systems learning activities in playground and school yard activities. Examples may include: stream tables, bird boxes, natural and found material play areas.
Nature Journals: Journal about the local habitat and the species that live within by observing, tracking, drawing and writing impressions and reflections.
Green Hour Programs: Encourage youth and families to spend at least one hour outside everyday
Field trips and guided explorations in natural areas: Plan your extracurricular activities outdoors at a park, nature center, farm, creek or trail.
Family Nature Club: Start a family nature club with friends and neighbors.
Daily Free Time Outdoors: Opportunity for daily (non-organized) free time/play outdoors.

Links to more Web Resources

Outdoor Skills

Project Ideas

Pass It On: Share your skills. Invite friends and coworkers to join you in nature-based activities such as archery, shooting sports or fishing. Great activities for team building.
Outdoor Skills Training: Lead skill building activities in: hiking, fishing, canoeing, kayaking, birding, camping, archery, star-gazing, rock-climbing, orienteering.
Outdoor PE electives: Provide an outdoor adventrue PE elective. Include lifelong skills such as hiking, fishing, canoeing, kayaking, birding and wildlife watching, camping, archery, star-gazing, rock-climbing, orienteering.
Outdoor P.E.: Take physical education classes outside, using natural areas as your gym.
Nature-based Youth Leadership: Encourage nature-based youth leadership through student-led training and planning for outdoor experiences.
Geocache Challenge: Mix technology and outdoor exploration with a geocache challenge.
Fishing Programs: Introduce students and families to outdoor recreation through fishing training and special events at the school or nearby parks.
Camping Trips: Offer overnight or weekend camping trip for grades, organizations, or classes
Archery in the Schools: Join the Texas Archery in the Schools program and competition.
"Leave-No-Trace" Training: "Leave-No-Trace (LNT)" is a training program to learn how to be in the outdoors- etiquette training for being in nature. LNT training can be conducted for school yards, urban open spaces, wilderness and everything in between.

Links to more Web Resources

Nature Spaces

Project Ideas

Outdoor Reflection: Set aside time to read and reflect in the outdoor classroom.
Outdoor Exploration: Map out suitable outdoor exploration areas such as ponds, butterfly gardens, or bird observation areas (houses) for use by students, teachers and families.
Nature Play: Encourage students and community to use nature playscapes for playing, parties, special events, even fundraising.
Community Garden: Use and invite others to use your community garden. Form community partnerships to maintain the garden.
Special Places: Inspire students to create special play spaces with natural materials.